Cruise Ships Now "Ghost Ships"

Above, Majesty of the Seas docked at Key West in 2019. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In April 2019, we took a cruise to Key West and Havana, Cuba aboard Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas. A year later, the ship was sold to Seajets and, due to the pandemic, sat in limbo in Greece unused.

Above, yours truly aboard Majesty of the Seas in 2019. Photo by Mitch Geriminsky.

Two of her sister ships while with Royal Caribbean were scrapped. But, four years later, Majesty of the Seas sits unused. It is now being considered a "ghost ship" along with several others.

What is a ghost ship?

According to Cruise Critic:

They’re not scrapped, but they are not in operation either: they are the ghost ships of the cruise industry, sold during the pandemic and laid up ever since.

How does it happen that ships end up in limbo? Most of these cruise ships here were bought by other operators or holding companies and laid up – nautical speak for when a ship is kept at anchorage or dock somewhere in the world. Technically, they’re kept at the ready to sail again – but the reality is that the longer these vessels are out of service, the more expensive it will be to bring them back into service again. While a skeleton crew of engineers and officers remains onboard, items like swimming pools, toilets, sinks, and galleys quickly fall into disrepair if not kept in constant use.

These cruise ships face an uncertain future: they could be eventually sold for scrap on the cheap, or to a willing buyer with the time – and money – to bring them back to life after almost half a decade of disuse.

These are the ghost ships of the cruise industry we’re keeping tabs on.

They list five cruise liners as ghost ships with the Majesty of the Seas being one of them.

To read more, go here.